By merely believing there is no darkness you do not have light.
An ideology that teaches one to believe that sin does not exist and that the soul is not involved in sin is very dangerous. It is just a means of forgetting one’s sinful condition. It does not lead to the extinction of sin but to forgetting about sin. And forgetting about sin is worse than the existence of sin. Are you able to see your sins? Being aware of them is good, beneficial. But being unable to see them, being ignorant of them is harmful, because when they have been seen they begin to goad us, to prick at us to transform ourselves. Awareness of sin brings about change and the full consciousness of sin brings about instantaneous transformation.
Therefore please don’t get involved in talk about the purity of the soul, enlightenment and so on. The soul has nothing to do with belief. It is something to be realized directly when the sin-ridden personality has been cast off and when the seeker, breaking through the layers of darkness, enters his own secret, innermost, centre of light. It is a direct realization. It is not something that can be imagined.
Any imaginary concept of it is probably going to be very harmful. It can become a hindrance and can stand in the way of attaining the light, because if you believe there is no darkness, there is no question of your being able to remove something you do not believe exists. And if the soul commits neither good nor evil, then what is the point of rising above them? These meaningless statements and questions of our so-called philosophers have thrown many people into worlds of delusion. This poison has spread far and wide and because of it, we think of ourselves as God. And at the same time it would be difficult, on this earth, to find greater sinners than us!
Don’t forget, also, that all this self-glorification and talk about the purity of the soul is really directed towards ignoring the existence of sin. It is very difficult for those who fall into the trap of this talk to get out of it later. It is easy to become free from sin but it is very difficult to escape the clutches of this dangerous kind of philosophy.
The fact that the soul is pure is neither a theory nor a principle, it is a direct realization. And any discussion about it is useless. It is just like creating an illusion in the mind of a sick man that his sickness does not exist. If the sick man accepts this as gospel, the result won’t be recovery but certain death.
Those who know do not discuss realization. They talk about the sadhana, the path that leads to realization. It is not the realization but the sadhana that should be considered. Realization is bound to follow the sadhana. It is useless to think about it. And if anyone takes realization for granted his sadhana will become impossible for him.
And yet look how easy it is to take realization without-sadhana for granted! This way one begins to feel the joy of freedom from sin without actually being rid of it, and in the deep spell of illusion beggars begin to feel the joy of emperors. What a joy it must be for beggars to be told they’re emperors! It is no wonder that those who tell them so are respected and that they worship them by falling at their feet. There cannot be an easier and cheaper liberation from poverty and sin! This phony philosophy gives you a very easy freedom but sadhana requires great effort on your part.
I hope you are not caught in the trap of any philosophy or philosopher. I hope you have not resorted to any such short cut. The easiest and cheapest way is just to believe that the soul is pure and enlightened, that the soul is Brahma itself and that there is nothing to be done by you – and of course, that whatever you happen to be doing at the time is the best thing because nothing needs to be given up.
Don’t forget that even truth can be abused, and even the noblest truth can be used to hide the meanest ones. This has happened in the past and it happens every day. Cowardice can be hidden by non-violence; sin can be hidden under the philosophy of the purity and enlightenment of the soul, and no-action under the garb of sannyas.
I want to warn you against these dangers. If you aren’t wary of them you cannot make much progress in the direction of the self. Don’t seek shelter in any philosophical lean-to to try to get away from the sin and darkness that have enshrouded you. Know them. Become familiar with them. They are there. Don’t forget they exist. Even though they are like dreams, they are still there. And don’t think that dreams don’t exist. Even a dream has an existence. It can also overwhelm us, disturb us. Saying “It was just a dream”, leads nowhere. There is no other solution than waking up. But if he likes, a man can even dream he has woken up. A false philosophy, a philosophy-without-sadhana does the very same thing. It does not awaken you; it simply causes a dream of awakening. This is a dream within a dream. Haven’t you had dreams where you have seen yourself as awake?
Merely believing and saying that there is no sin, no darkness, serves no purpose. It is only an expression of your desire, not of the truth. It is our desire that there should be no sin, no darkness, but desiring alone is not enough. It is important. And gradually these philosophers begin to believe the dreams of accomplishment, just like a beggar who wants to be a king will ultimately start dreaming he has become one. They are always wishing for it and they finally imagine they have achieved what they wanted, but in actuality they have not achieved anything. And so it is easy to forget defeat. And they have a sigh of satisfaction in their sleep because they’ve achieved in a dream what they could not in reality.
I hope you are not seeking such satisfaction here.
If so, you have come to the wrong person. I cannot give you any dreams. I cannot give you any basis for self-deception.
I am a dream-breaker and I want to wake you from your slumber.
-Osho
From The Perfect Way
Copyright© OSHO International Foundation
You can read the entire book online at the Osho Library.
Many of Osho’s books are available in the U.S. online from Amazon.com and Viha Osho Book Distributors. In India they are available from Amazon.in and Oshoworld.com.
This was a talk that was given in Hindi and later translated into English. In English Osho rarely used the word ‘sin’. When I have come across him using the word he has said he means unconsciousness.